Vera Ralston

Whatever your opinion on Wayne, one thing cannot be denied: he was a staunch professional. His commitment to making movies would leave him disgruntled with anyone who didn’t put their best foot forward, including Vera Ralston, Wayne’s co-star on The Fighting Kentuckian. The actor would become one of Wayne’s most disliked co-stars.

Paul Fix, who was also in the picture as one of the heavies, noted “Poor Duke really had a rough time with Herbert Yates over that one. Yates was insisting that Wayne use Vera Ralston again, and he said, ‘Damn it, Herbert, I know you love the gal, but she just can’t act.’ Well, there was an almighty argument, but Yates won because all he had to do was wave Duke’s contract in his face and say, ‘You wanna produce this picture or not?’”

But Wayne was confident that while one co-star may be a little disappointing, another would provide audiences with all they needed: “Duke said to me, ‘Never mind. Nobody’s gonna remember Vera in the film because all they’re gonna remember is Oliver Hardy and me doing our comedy scenes, and they’ll remember the battle, but they won’t remember Vera because she’ll soon be forgotten.’ And he was right—sort of. People remember Vera because she was in Duke’s films and because she was a disaster.”

Fix finally confessed, “Wayne told me, ‘I was always mad at Yates when he made me use Vera in that film because I think we lost the chance to have one damn fine picture.’”

Kim Darby

Given the circumstances, it was unlikely that John Wayne would have much time or patience for the relatively inexperienced Kim Darby, who played Mattie Ross in True Grit. During the difficult casting process, ‘The Duke’ had even promised the role to his daughter Aissa, only for director Henry Hathaway to cast Darby without consulting him.

Wayne did offer some praise for Darby, though it was thoroughly backhanded. He called her “strong-willed, independent, and determined,” which might sound like a compliment, but he quickly added, “That’s great for the character, but not so great for an actor.”

Tension was present from the outset, but some of the challenges Darby faced were beyond her control. She had recently given birth and spent much of her free time caring for her newborn, all while dealing with a looming divorce from her husband, Jack Stacy. Wayne, however, viewed this as unprofessional and became increasingly frustrated.

“I like me and my screen partners to get along,” he raged. “Jesus, I got along better with Kirk Douglas.” His irritation with a young mother in personal turmoil may seem harsh, but Wayne was never known for his progressive outlook

Marlon Brando

Wayne didn’t even have to be in the same room as Marlon Brando to have a negative opinion, but it was The Godfather star’s refusal to accept his Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ in person that served as the catalyst.

Sacheen Littlefeather claimed to The Guardian that when she was collecting the trophy on his behalf, ‘The Duke’ “was coming towards me to forcibly take me off the stage” but was eventually restrained “by six security men to prevent him from doing so”.

When asked for his thoughts on the situation, Wayne remarked that “if Brando had something to say, he should have appeared that night and stated his views.” Instead, he was blasted for “taking some little unknown girl and dressing her up in an Indian outfit.”

Clint Eastwood

Two of the biggest names in the history of the western, Clint Eastwood admitted that “John Wayne once wrote me a letter saying he didn’t like High Plains Drifter,” which he didn’t think was “really about the people who pioneered the West.”

Eastwood was the face of the medium’s next evolution, which favoured revisionism and realism over reverence, something that ‘The Duke’ couldn’t wrap his head around, according to the book Ride, Boldly Ride: The Evolution of the American Western: “I realized that there’s two different generations, and he couldn’t understand what I was doing.”

Having been such an integral part of the western’s enduring popularity, Wayne wasn’t thrilled with the direction in which it was heading as his own career began winding down, leaving Eastwood as just one of many emerging superstars he didn’t care for.

Frank Sinatra

Even though the two would end up becoming close during Wayne’s final days, his initial opinion of Frank Sinatra was hardly glowing. ‘The Duke’ was a vocal supporter of the House of Un-American Activities Committee and was less than thrilled when openly Communist writer Alfred Maltz was brought on to pen the script for Sinatra’s The Execution of Private Slovik.

Naturally, Wayne was asked for his thoughts on the matter and responded in kind by referencing John F. Kennedy: “I don’t think my opinion is too important,” he began, “Why don’t you ask Sinatra’s crony – who’s going to run our country for the next few years – what he thinks of it?”

The two almost came to blows at a benefit in the aftermath, with Sinatra criticising Wayne for “blasting off his mouth”. It was even noted in Carol Lea Mueller’s book The Quotable John Wayne: The Grit and Wisdom of an American Icon that ‘The Duke’ had backhanded one of Sinatra’s bodyguards after demanding he keep the noise down when they were staying at the same hotel after being told, “Nobody talks to Mr. Sinatra that way.”

And yet, those fences were clearly mended after the Rat Pack legend offered that “Mr. Wayne has served honourably as America’s symbol to the world of the highest morals and prudent standard of our society” in an official statement released after his passing.

Clark Gable

Causing issues with John Ford was one way not to endear yourself to Wayne, with their collaboration on 1953’s Mogambo leading to tension between the two. Due to his view of the director as a friend, mentor, and father figure, ‘The Duke’ was left less than impressed.

As his daughter Aissa wrote in John Wayne, My Father: “In my father’s way of thinking, disloyalty to allies, support in any fashion for their enemies, was expressly forbidden,” she said. By extension, “If Clark Gable took on John Ford, my father’s code demanded that John Wayne stand by his old pal.”

Wayne would also call Gable “an idiot”, saying the reason he became an actor is because “it’s the only thing he’s smart enough to do.” Harsh comments aside, he did at least acknowledge that the star was “extremely handsome in person.”

Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman was rising to stardom at around the same time Wayne’s career was winding down, but the future legend did not make a positive mark on the existing one after his daughter Aissa revealed that The French Connection star “could never appear on-screen without my father skewering his performance.”

Calling him “the worst actor in town” and utterly convinced that he was “awful”, Wayne never offered any reasoning or logic behind his intense distaste for Hackman’s performative abilities, leaving him as the only person Aissa had ever heard her father speak about “with any real venom”.